


Martial Law

by MysticDeadman



Series: Learning to Fight [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fighting, Friendship, Gen, Kickboxing, Martial Arts, World Tournament, taekwondo, tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticDeadman/pseuds/MysticDeadman
Summary: "Martial Law" is the world's premier martial arts tournament. Fighters from across the world travel to one city every year to prove their worth and earn the greatest prizes offered anywhere: $10 Million in cash and one wish for anything else in the world. What would these prizes mean to some of these warriors? What would it mean to the ones that need them the most?
Series: Learning to Fight [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684456
Kudos: 1





	1. Kicking It - Hisui

Hisui exhaled slowly, her eyes locking on the sight in front of her. Three of her fellow Taekwondo teammates were crouched down several feet in front of her, each of them curling down and making a makeshift staircase out of their bodies. A few steps past them stood another of her teammates, facing toward her with a fifth perched on his shoulders. In the last teen boy’s hand was the object of her attention.

A square pine board. A stupid, simple pine board that was just begging for her to put her foot through it.

She took another breath in, digging her feet into the ground. The noise around her faded out. There weren’t any spectators in the mall. The lights around their 6-man setup faded out. She closed her eyes, and thought back to her motivation for completing the trick.

* * *

Hisui sat at the table in her high school’s cafeteria. Her head was in her hands, her fingers threatening to pull her long black hair out of her head. She growled loudly, acting as a warning sign to _back off._ Fortunately for her, everyone took the sign for what it was and gave her space.

Everyone except for one person.

“Okay, Jade,” Kayla, Hisui’s best friend, sighed. She poked the toe of her shoe into her friend’s shin under the table. “what is it? What’s making you rage this time?”

“ _Watashi wa sugoku tsukareta..._ ” Hisui groaned through the table.

Kayla rolled her eyes, pushing Hisui’s lunch tray into her arms. “C’mon, Jade. You know I can’t understand you when you’re like this.”

“That’s why I said it like that,” Hisui said, not lifting her head from the table. Kayla sighed.

“Look, girl, I wanna help you. I really do. I can’t really help you if you won’t let me.”

“And what makes you think I want you to help me?”

“Uh, because you’re very clearly begging for help? Why else would you have your head buried in your arms at lunch, where everybody, their mom and their dog can see you?”

At this, Hisui lifted her head. “Okay fine. You got me. I’m dying.”

“We all are, babe. Try again.”

Hisui rubbed her hands over her eyes. “Ever wonder what it’s like to be Student Council Prez?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“It sucks. I have so many people wanting me to do so much here. I have to organize, approve and schedule fundraisers for the clubs. I have to listen to people beg me for money that we don’t have and I can’t give even if I wanted to. Jackasses keep teasing me, wanting me to do all this crazy crap that you only see in anime, like punishing teachers or expelling other students.

“I hate this a lot, Kayla. If I’d known what this was going to be like, I never would’ve ran.”

Kayla shrugged. “Probably didn’t help that you were the only one left after the other two runners failed their classes.”

“And you’re not, either.”

“Look, Hisui,” At that, the President looked up; she knew it was serious when Kayla used her real name, “I’m not gonna act like I know what you’re having to do. Sure, you tell me about it, and I’ll agree that it sounds like a lot. But I really don’t. And I really wish you’d let me know. You don’t give out a lot of details about anything that goes on with the Council. You’re keeping it all to yourself, and we both know you don’t handle that kind of pressure that well.”

Hisui sighed, dropping her head back into her hands.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Kayla. I just don’t wanna unload everything on you, you know? I just needs some time to figure everything out. Everyone and their mother’s dumping so much crap on me all at the same time. It feels like it's too much sometimes, you know?"

Kayla took a bite of her sandwich, taking the time to think about what to say next. “Just, like, pretend your problems are in front of you and kick the crap out of them.”

Hisui took a deep breath. She could feel her nerves settling a little.

“You know what? You’re right. I’m letting this get to me more than I should,” She then snapped her fingers. “I know! I’ve got a demo show coming up. We’ve been working on some new break routines.”

Kayla smiled. “Sounds like a good chance for you to get rid of some of that stress.”  
  
“Hell yeah! _Bōdo o dainashi ni shiyou_!”

* * *

Hisui opened her eyes, focused on the setup in front of her. She knew what she needed to do. With a short, sharp cry, she took off running. As she got to the first of her crouching teammates, she brought a leg up, climbing onto his back and continuing her run along the other two. Once she got to the last young man, she pushed off of him as hard as she could, launching herself into the air. The boy with the board held it out flat, showing Hisui where her target was. She lifted her leg out in front of her as high as she could. Right at the peak of her jump, she started to bring her leg down.

Through all of this, the only thing that registered to her was the sharp crack of pine as her heel drove through it in a perfectly placed axe kick.

Hisui landed on her feet, feeling the rush of adrenaline washing over her. With another shout, she brought herself into a front stance. Her focus eased, and she could hear the applause from the crowd around them. She allowed herself a small smile, feeling some of her tension fade, before everyone in the show moved into place. As one, the group began performing a poomsae, performing each punch and block of the form with practiced timing.

As she punched the air, Hisui kept her smile. She had another board break later on in the show, and she was ready to let more stress go.


	2. Go! Fight! Win!

“Okay girls, one more time and we’ll call it a day!”

After the coach’s instruction, Kayla fell in place with the rest of her cheerleading squad. She smiled as big as she could. For some of these girls, the smile was fake. They’d wear one because it was part of the show. Behind the scenes, she knew that those same girls liked to wait until they thought they were safe from prying ears before letting loose some of the most scathing gossip in the world. The amount of crap they’d talk with each other was so insane. It wasn’t any secret to anyone in the school that they’d talk, but that didn’t mean Kayla had to like it.

No, for her, the smile was real. She loved where she was. She loved what she was doing. She loved the athleticism. She loved the cadences. She loved it when she could get the parents and local fans of whatever sports team they were watching to cheer harder. She loved it. She loved being a cheerleader.

Almost as much as she loved finally convincing her loving, if overprotective, father to let her try out.

The only disappointment here would be that the practice was coming to a close soon.

The bus ride home for Kayla was nothing new either. Sure, her dad would take her to school himself, but she would always ride the bus after practice. Work usually kept him into the early evening. Not that she minded. She knew her dad tried his best to look after the two of them himself.

After getting off the bus, she ran up to her home’s front door and slid her key in the lock. Kayla turned the key, then giggled to herself. With more force than she would ever need to, and with a flourish that wouldn’t be out of place in a sitcom, she threw the door open.

“Dad!” She said, her voice having a singsong-y tone to it, “I’m hoooome!”

She held her pose, a hand high in the air and a wide smile on her face for a moment. No answer came to her, though, and she stepped into her home. The lack of a response didn’t bother Kayla for a moment, and she threw her school supplies to the ground by the wall.

Kayla walked into her home’s kitchen, intending to find a quick snack before her father came home from work. Instead, she found a note on the fridge. Her eyes scanned over the note, taking in its message.

_Sorry, Kay. Work’s gonna keep me late tonight. Here’s some money for a pizza._

_TIP THE DRIVER._

_I’ll see you in the morning._

_-Love, Dad_

Kayla sighed. “Man, I was really looking forward to showing Dad some of the new routine, too.”

She took the note down and read it over a few more times, rolling her eyes once or twice.

“Since when do I not tip, anyway? Man, this sucks.”

Kayla thought for a moment. She considered the kind of pizza she wanted before an idea struck her.

“Pizza can wait. It’s been a couple of days. I should probably get a good workout in.”

With that, she raced upstairs to her room. She quickly dug through the clothes in her closet, looking for a specific item. This was always the part of her secret passion that she hated: having to hide it from her father. After her mother had passed away in childbirth, Kayla’s father had been overly protective of her. She knew he loved her and didn’t want anything to happen to her, but he was always resistant to anything interests she had that made her be physical. She had argued with him over him allowing her to be a cheerleader. It took some dedication, but she finally won out, and her father let her join the squad.

With all that in mind, as she finally found one of the things she was looking for, she knew that there was no way in _hell_ she could let him find out about this. She held the article of clothing out in front of her, a smile on her face.

A pair of red-and-black boxing shorts.

“Okay, now I gotta find the rest.”

* * *

A couple of minutes later, Kayla stood out in her backyard. She tapped her red-and-black gloved fists together for brief second, taking in a deep breath of air. She’d changed from her regular clothes to the boxing shorts she’d found earlier and a black sports bra to go with them. In the back of her mind, she was thankful that she and her dad took good care of their backyard. She dug a toe into the ground.

“Being barefoot back here would really suck if he didn't. Okay, let’s see how we feel today.”

She turned to the laptop she’d brought down from her room, a video on WatchTube already loaded up. She took a moment to check to make sure the volume on her computer was turned down.

“Don’t wanna bother the neighbors,” she said to herself, “and wanna make sure we can hear Dad if he comes home early.”

Once she was satisfied with everything, she began her workout. She started with basic stretches. She used the same stretching routine that she did with her cheerleading squad. Once she felt she was sufficiently loose, she started up the video waiting on her screen. As the video played, she followed along with the motions, mimicking the instructor’s every move. She could feel herself trying to get used to every punch. She worked through a few kicks, her balance feeling a little off each time.

“Sheesh,” she muttered to herself, “you’d think I’d be able to handle these better, with all the kicking we do in cheerleading.”

She fired off a quick front kick, imagining her foot connecting with a target.

“Then again, it’s not like we’re kicking at people or anything.”

The video came to an end, but Kayla’s workout didn’t. She spent some time after the video practicing her moves. She chained punch after punch after punch together. Every few strikes, she would throw in a kick, aiming for targets on an imaginary sparring partner.

At one point in a previous private training session, she’d considered asking Hisui to join her. She’d quickly dropped that idea, though; she didn’t want her friend to make fun of her or act like Kayla didn’t know what she was doing.

No, as she threw two quick punches and brought her knee up for what she felt was a powerful strike, she decided this was for the best.

“Hisui would probably be hella overbearing anyway.”

With that, Kayla continued her training session. Punch after punch, kick after kick, she felt herself getting into a groove. When she first started teaching herself kickboxing, she knew her moves were sloppy. Sure, cheerleading had her throwing kicks with her routine, but those were only supposed to show off athleticism. They weren’t practical in anything.

With kickboxing, though, she knew she had to put more impact in her moves if they were going to mean anything. When she first started looking into teaching herself, she did a little research. There was cardio kickboxing, but that was just for exercise. There was some force behind the attacks, sure, but there wasn’t any real intent there.

“No, that’s not gonna work,” she’d told herself, “I want to be able to _maybe_ fight with Jade one day.”

And so she watched. She studied. And she mimicked as best she could. As hours, days, weeks went by, she felt herself getting sharper and sharper. At first, it looked like her punches would barely slap at someone’s skin and she would feel like she was going to fall over if she dared kick.

Now, as she fired of a rapid volley of punches, she felt confident that one of these shots could crack someone good in the jaw. She was sure that if she threw a roundhouse at someone’s waist, she could rock their kidneys. She continued to throw punches, imagining her shots pounding away at a punching bag. She felt her body getting hotter and hotter as time passed, her every strike shaking sweat off her body. She would become so focused, she wouldn’t notice that her hands in particular getting hotter than the rest of her. As she neared the end of her workout, she prepared herself.

It became a tradition for her. The last combination of her workout always ended the same way. She would put everything she could into it. She punched and kicked as hard and as fast as she could, letting her energy and momentum guide her. When she felt the moment was right, she threw one last straight punch. Her eyes were laser-focused, burning a hole in her imaginary opponent. The punch carried everything she had. Her opponent went down, and went down _hard_.

She’d hold her stance for a moment, panting heavily. In the back of her mind, she could feel a slight breeze blowing past her. With one last deep breath, the brought her fist down, relaxing for the first time in what felt like forever. She shook the sweat off her arms, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Whew,” she breathed, using the back of one hand to wipe at her forehead, “that one felt good.”

She walked over to her laptop, which had long finished the latest video. Her finger traced along the computer’s touchpad until her pointer found the corner of the screen.

“Huh, only an hour. Coulda sworn it was a lot longer. Oh well.”

She picked up her laptop and walked back to the house, taking a second to wipe her feet on the back patio’s mat.

“First a shower, then pizza.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like what you’ve seen and want to keep up with the Internet’s Eternal Phenomenon, then be sure to follow me on social media! I’m on Twitter (@MysticDeadman), Instagram (@mystic_deadman), AO3 (MysticDeadman), DeviantArt (MysticDeadman), Fanfiction (Mystic Deadman) and YouTube (Mystic Deadman)!

**Author's Note:**

> The usage of Japanese in the story is a product of Google Translate. If you know a better translation of these sentences, please feel free to let me know for corrections. Thanks!
> 
> 1\. "Watashi wa sugoku tsukareta" ("I'm just so damn tired")  
> 2\. "Bōdo o dainashi ni shiyou" ("Gonna ruin some boards")
> 
> If you want a look at Hisui, here be a link: https://www.deviantart.com/mysticdeadman/art/Hisui-Powers-845360031
> 
> If you like what you’ve seen and want to keep up with the Internet’s Eternal Phenomenon, then be sure to follow me on social media! I’m on Twitter (@MysticDeadman), Instagram (@mystic_deadman), DeviantArt (MysticDeadman), Fanfiction (Mystic Deadman) and YouTube (Mystic Deadman)!


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